Reading The Sea of Monsters
by Scouti
Summary: PJO characters readin the Sea of Monsters
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **I know a lot of people have probably done this. And it isn't very Original. I'm just hoping mine is better than all the rest.

Disclaimer: Don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. *chuckles nervously* Haha, like I'm Rick. Ha.

Chapter 1:

My friends are going to read my Inner thoughts

Percy's POV

It had been one years since The Second Titan War. I felt as if someone was watching me. I turned my back on the beach waiting.

"Hey Percy!" Annabeth yelled.

"Whoa!" I said turning in the other direction. "Oh, hi Annabeth." I had a lopsided smile on that I couldn't seem tourned control whenever she appeared. "Glad to see you."

"I know you are," she answered.

_Typical Annabeth._

"So, what's going on?" I asked.

Her eyes gleamed mysteriously. "Nothing."

I narrowed my eyes. "Annabeth, I know you're hiding something."

She smirked. "Am not."

"Am too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Annabeth," I whined.

An idea struck my kelp brain head. I bent down so my lips were hovering over hers. I lowered my head and barely let my lips touch hers before retreating. She growled in response. I captured her hips making sure she wouldn't run off.

"No Annabeth," I whispered huskily. "Tell me what you're hiding."

Annabeth's POV

"I'm not-" I began, but he growled, nipping at her ear.

"Tell me," Percy ordered.

Than he bucked my hips grinding us together making me moan.

I shook my head. "Percy..."

He wouldn't have that. When he needed to know something. He needed to know.

He wrapped his arms fully around me, so every part of me was touching him. Then his head nibbled on my neck. I shivered, which was exactly what he wanted me to do.

He retreated hovering over my lips once again. I felt like I was going to explode. _Stupid hormones._

"Tell me," he whispered.

"Uh, I, um..."

He growled again, and his eyes new I was going to crack soon. He kissed down my neck. Then kissed me lightly on the lips. Teasing me.

But my brains were no match for his kelp head. I wrapped my arms around him. I rubbed my thumb across his back; where is Achilles Heal was.

He shivered. I kept at it; rubbing it lightly, sometimes flicking it, until his eyes dropped slowly.

It was working. He was getting sleepy.

"Come on," I purred. "You look tired. Go to sleep."

I lowered him to the ground so his head resting in my lap.

"Good night Seaweed Brain," I said, rubbing his Achilles Heal once more, before he passed out. I started to mess with his already untameable hair. The black mass sliding threw my slim fingers.

He was going to be okay. All he needed was a good nights rest.

Remember: Athena always has a plan.

* * *

I hid the book in my hands. Took the wrapping paper and taped it. The wrapping paper was blue with tridents all over it. The book was in greek. It's tital: The Sea of Monsters. I put the note that Juniper had written (she had the best hand writing of all of us; Grover, Me, Katie, Clarise, Rachel, Chris, Nico, Tyson, Travis, and Conner).

No doubt he's be embarrassed when he figured out that we all had to listen. But it was his myth. The Percy Jackson Myth. Just one of five. Why're we reading the 2nd book then? Because it was the Muses favorite of the books. The Muses had created it themselves. Hephestus's forage putting the cover together. You could feel the magic in your fingers.

It had every thought and feeling Percy had ever had. And it looked like he had wrote it himself, but none of it is a lie. It was all straight facts. We'd know what would happen in his kelp brain head.

The next morning I woke up extra early. I had to get the present in the big house by seven'o'clock. I grabbed it, running out, excited. Chiron was going to get Percy and everybody else was going to be there to hear every thought that my Seaweed Brain had ever had. I would _not _have Percy ruin this for me. I know it's his birthday present, but I can be pretty persuasive. So everyone who was going to read the book would be in the big house. The book would sell even to mortals, who would think it was all fun and games.

I walked into the big house and looked at the gigantic cake. It was chocolate with blue frosting, perfect for my Percy. I set the gift in the center of the table. This was going to be awesome.

Percy's POV

"Percy!" Chiron called.

I was sword fighting with my knife. I had had the strangest dream. Annabeth had been acting weird and I was trying to figure out what she was hinding. Then she had hit the small part of my back so many times it twas driving me insane. I had woke up and was in my bed panting. It had to be a dream. A very pleasant one.

"Yes Chiron," I said clicking my sword so it turned back into a pen.

"Meet me in the big house."

He galloped away and I stared after him.

_Huh, _I thought, _wonder what's going on._

* * *

"Surprise!" yelled all of my friends.

"Happy birthday Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said.

I smiled at her. "This is for me?"

"Of coarse. Who else has a birthday is it with the nick-name of Seaweed Brain?"

I hugged her. "Thank you."

The party was awesome there was cake, cake, and more cake! We had Root Bear Floats and Blueberry Ice Cream.

"Okay," Chiron said. "It is time for Percy to open up his present."

Excitement filled within me. _Wait present? Only one?_

Chiron handed me a present wrapped with Trident wrapping paper. I laugh.

Then I opened up the little note.

_For Percy_

_Hopefully you won't hate this present that much..._

_From all of camp half-blood_

_(Plus the Muses)_

Wrinkles crossed between my eyebrows. Who were the Muses again?

I looked at Annabeth, but she was looking st the ground.

I wrapped the wrapping paper of and what I saw I could believe. It was a hard backed book written in Acient Greek.

The Tital: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.

I opened the book curiously and found it was in my point of few. My face flushed.

"Okay, what's going on?" I asked.

Chrion was the one that answered. "The Muses, goddesses of arts and sciences, created a whole series of books with you as the main character. You're every thought, every feeling, was put into this book. It is your Myth. Every big hero has a myth. So yours came to be. You are expected to let the others read it too. Out loud."

My mouth went slack. "B-but, Chrion, don't you think that's a bit to personal?"

"Are you ashamed of your thoughts Percy?" Annabeth asked, stalking towards me.

"No, but-"

"Do you want me to be unhappy?"

"N-no, but-"

"No buts," Annabeth ordered. "If you think you can get out of this for one second, Perceus Jackson, I swear to the styx that I will brake up with you."

Thunder boomed.

"Fine," I grumbled, handing the book to Annabeth.

_Some birthday gift._

She started reading. **Chapter one. ****My Best Friend Shops for a Wedding Dress.**

"Annabeth!" Travis gasped in fake surprise. "How could you get engaged without telling us?"

Katie smacked him.

"Owe," he said grabbing his arm.

"Not that friend," I mumbled.

Conner's eyes widened.

Grover turned scarlet. "Guilty."

"Can we please continue reading now?" Annabeth asked enjoyed.

Annabeth continued.

No One POV

**My nightmare started like this.**

**I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned.**

_**Florida, **_**I thought. Though I wasn't sure how I knew that. I'd never been to Florida.**

"I was thinking about Florida, so you would know where I was... I didn't actually think if would work, though," Gorver commented.

Annabeth glared at him.

"Sorry," Grover said. "It was needed information, continue."

**Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life.**

**Yeah, I said _hooves._**

"No, you said hooves?" Nico asked sarcastically. "Really?"

Percy blushed. "I-I-"

Luckily Annabeth started reading again.

**Grover is a satyr.**

Travis gasped. "Grover why didn't you tell us!"

"Yeah, you shouldn't being keeping secrets!"

Grover said, "Baaa, Baaa."

"Okay," Percy said. "Let's not mess with the satyr."

Everyone laughed.

**From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager with a peach-fuzz goatee and a bad case of acne. **

Grover's eyes widened. "Do I really look like that."

"No," Rachel said. "You used too though."

Jupiter said, "No he didn't! He was always cute."

Every one was staring at her.

"Um, Annabeth?" Jupiter said, "Continue please."

**He walks with a strange limp, but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don't recommend), you'd never know there was anything un-human about him. Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he's got furry hindquarters and hooves.**

**Grover had been my best friend in sixth grade. He'd gone on this adventure with me and a girl named Annabeth**

"Oh, so I'm just a girl."

Everyone laughed, but Annabeth glared at Percy.

"Hey, this was what? Three-four years ago?"

She was still glaring.

Percy got up and sat next to her.

"My Wise Girl," he whispered in her ear so nobody could else could hear.

Her face slowly turned red.

Percy kissed her cheek.

"Okay, if you to are done, can we continue?" Thalia asked.

**to save the world, but I hadn't seen him since last July, when he set off alone on a dangerous quest—a quest no satyr had ever returned from.**

"And yet, her I am," Grover said. "Did you honestly think I would let myself die?"

"No, I was just stating the facts," Percy said.

**Anyway, in my dream, Grover was hauling goat tail, holding his human shoes in his hands the way he does when he needs to move fast. He clopped past the little tourist shops and surfboard rental places. The wind bent the palm trees almost to the ground.**

**Grover was terrified of something behind him. He must've just come from the beach. Wet sand was caked in his fur. He'd escaped from somewhere. He was trying to get away from ... something.**

"What is he running a way from?" Nico asked, he had been at the Casino during this time.

"You'll see..." Percy said, then added, "When half of the book is done."

Nico groaned.

**A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm. Behind Grover, at the far end of the block, a shadowy figure loomed. It swatted aside a street lamp, which burst in a shower of sparks.**

"Ooh," Travis said. "Sparkles..."

Katie smacked him.

"Owe."

Katie mumbled something like, "I swear all Hermes kids have ADD."

**(AN: ADD stands for Attention Deficit Disorder)**

Annabeth continued.

**Grover stumbled, whimpering in fear. **

"Awe, our little Grover whimpered for the first time!" Travis said.

"Let's celebrate!" Conner joked.

Annabeth ignored them, but Grover glared.

**He muttered to himself, **_**Have to get away. Have to warn them!**_

**I couldn't see what was chasing him, but I could hear it muttering and cursing. The ground shook as it got closer. Grover dashed around a street corner and faltered. He'd run into a dead-end courtyard full of shops. No time to back up. The nearest door had been blown open by the storm. The sign above the darkened display window read: ST. AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE.**

**Grover dashed inside. He dove behind a rack of wedding dresses.**

**The monster's shadow passed in front of the shop. I could smell the thing—a sickening combination of wet sheep wool and rotten meat and that weird sour body odor only monsters can have, like a skunk that's been living off Mexican food.**

"Ewe," Jupiter said. "Do you really have to be that descriptive?"

"Hey," Percy said. "It was what I was thinking."

"You do think like a kelp head," Annabeth said in fake surprise.

Percy glared.

Annabeth whipped his bangs back and his face immediately softened.

**Grover trembled behind the wedding dresses. The monster's shadow passed on.**

**Silence except for the rain. Grover took a deep breath. Maybe the thing was gone.**

"That's what I was thinking," Grover said in surprise.

Percy laughed. "Really?"

"Maybe it was the _empathy link."_

_"Maybe."_

_**Then lightning flashed. The entire front of the store exploded, and a monstrous voice bellowed: "MIIIIINE!"**_

"MIIIIIINE!" Nico immitated making everyone jump.

He started laughing.

"That wasn't very nice Nico!" Annabeth complained.

"You"-laugh-"should've"-laugh-"seen"-laugh-"your faces."

Every one glared, but Annabeth continued reading.

_**I sat bolt upright, shivering in my bed.**_

**There was no storm. No monster.**

"Nooo? There wasn't? Really?" Rachel asked.

"Hey, the dream was pretty real to me."

**Morning sunlight filtered through my bedroom window.**

**I thought I saw a shadow flicker across the glass—a humanlike shape.**

"Who was that?" Juniper asked.

"Yeah Annabeth," Percy said, figuring it was mess with Annabeth time. He figured the dream was real since she'd been hiding the book from him. "Who was that?"  
Annabeth turned scarlet and punch him in the arm.

"Um-I. It-"

"Um, I, it?" Percy said, teasing. "We want an answer!"

Annabeth growled. "I don't need to explain myself to you."

**But then there was a knock on my bed room door—my mom called: "Percy, you're going to be late"—and the shadow at the window disappeared.**

**It must've been my imagination. A fifth-story window with a rickety old fire escape ... there couldn't have been anyone out there.**

"Oh, there was someone there," he said, hugging Annabeth close.

Annabeth was still glaring.

**"Come on, dear," my mother called again. "Last day of school. You should be excited! You've almost made it!"**

**"Coming," I managed.**

**I felt under my pillow. My fingers closed reassuringly around the ballpoint pen I always slept with. I brought it out, studied the Ancient Greek writing engraved on the side: _Anaklusmos. _Riptide.**

**I thought about uncapping it, but something held me back. I hadn't used Riptide for so long….**

"Really Sea Weed Brain? You hadn't practice with it?"

"I'm sure the book explains."

**Besides, my mom had made me promise not to use deadly weapons in the apartment after I'd swung a javelin the wrong way and taken out her china cabinet. **

Everyone laughed.

"How irresponsible Perce," Grover said.

Before Percy could protest, Annabeth started reading.

**I put Anaklusmos on my nightstand and dragged myself out of bed.**

**I got dressed as quickly as I could. I tried not to think about my nightmare or monsters or the shadow at my window. **

_**Have to get away. Have to warn them! **_

**What had Grover meant?**

**I made a three-fingered claw over my heart and pushed outward—an ancient gesture Grover had once taught me for warding off evil.**

**The dream couldn't have been real.**

Grover made a sound that sounded like: "Grawh."

"I should've made the link with Annabeth. She's not as stupid. A half-blood dream that was only a dream- in what world did that make sence?"  
"Hey!" Percy protested. "I'm not a morning person."

**Last day of school. My mom was right, I should have been excited. For the first time in my life, I'd almost made it an entire year without getting expelled. No weird accidents. No fights in the classroom. No teachers turning into monsters and trying to kill me with poisoned cafeteria food or exploding homework.**

"Did your homework actually explode?" Travis asked with a face that meant: lucky.

"I wish!" Percy said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

**Tomorrow, I'd be on my way to my favorite place in the world—Camp Half-Blood.**

**Only one more day to go. Surely even I couldn't mess that up.**

"Yeah right," Annabeth muttered.

"Ha ha," Percy said.

Everyone laughed.

**As usual, I didn't have a clue how wrong I was.**

Everyone was laughing twice as hard now.

**My mom made blue waffles and blue eggs for breakfast. She's funny that way, celebrating special occasions with blue food. I think it's her way of saying anything is possible. Percy can pass seventh grade. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that.**

"That's just weird," Nico said.

Travis smiled. "A really good weird though. Yummy."

Percy sighed. "If you do not cut it out. I will never invite you over for food again!"

"But-but, the yummy food..." Travis complained.

"I serious," Percy warned.

Travis pouted.

**I ate at the kitchen table while my mom washed dishes. She was dressed in her work uniform—a starry blue skirt and a red-and-white striped blouse she wore to sell candy at Sweet on America. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail.**

**The waffles tasted great, but I guess I wasn't digging in like I usually did. My mom looked over and frowned. "Percy, are you all right?"**

**"Yeah ... fine."**

"Gasp!" Travis said in mock surprise. "You lie to your own mother? Your beautiful, good at cooking mother?"

**But she could always tell when something was bothering me. She dried her hands and sat down across from me. "School, or ..."**

**She didn't need to finish. I knew what she was asking.**

**"I think Grover's in trouble," I said, and I told her about my dream.**

**She pursed her lips. We didn't talk much about the **_**other **_**part of my life. We tried to live as normally as possible, but my mom knew all about Grover.**

**"I wouldn't be too worried, dear," she said. "Grover is a big satyr now. If there were a problem, I'm sure we would've heard from ... from camp..." Her shoulders tensed as she said the word **_**camp.**_

"What happened to camp?" Thalia asked.

Everyone tensed. They never told Thalia in detail what happened.

"N-nothing," Percy said.

Thalia looked confused.

**"What is it?" I asked.**

**"Nothing," she said. "I'll tell you what. This afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center—to that skateboard shop you like."**

**Oh, man, that was tempting. We were always struggling with money. Between my mom's night classes and my private school tuition, we could never afford to do special stuff like shop for a skateboard. But something in her voice bothered me.**

**"Wait a minute," I said. "I thought we were packing me up for camp tonight."**

**She twisted her dishrag. "Ah, dear, about that ... I got a message from Chiron last night."**

**My heart sank. Chiron was the activities director at Camp Half-Blood. He wouldn't contact us unless some thing serious was going on. "What did he say?"**

**"He thinks ... it might not be safe for you to come to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."**

"**_Postpone? _Mom, how could it not be_safe_? I'm a half-blood! It's like the only safe place on earth for me!"**

**"Usually, dear. But with the problems they're having—"**

Thalia looked at every ones tensed body's, well everyone was tense except Tyson. "This is about my tree isn't it?"

Nobody answered.

**"_What _problems?"**

**"Percy ... I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."**

"Why does everyone do that to me?" Percy complained. "Make we all worried and then don't tell me what the heck is wrong so I'm even more worried?"

_**My mind was reeling. How could I not **_**go to camp? I wanted to ask a million questions, but just then the kitchen clock chimed the half-hour.**

**My mom looked almost relieved. "Seven-thirty, dear. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."**

**"But—"**

**"Percy, we'll talk this afternoon. Go on to school."**

**That was the last thing I wanted to do, but my mom had this fragile look in her eyes—a kind of warning, like if I pushed her too hard she'd start to cry.**

"Awe," Annabeth said. "You didn't want your mom to cry."

"Prissy, you are such a sissy."

Everyone stared at Cl arise. That was the only thing she ahd said this entire time.

"What? I'm capable of talking."

**Besides, she was right about my friend Tyson. I had to meet him at the subway station on time or he'd get upset. He was scared of traveling underground alone.**

"Smelling monsters in not my idea of fun either Tyson," Grover said.

"Smell funny," Tyson agreed.

**I gathered up my stuff, but I stopped in the doorway. "Mom, this problem at camp. Does it... could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?"**

**She wouldn't meet my eyes. "We'll talk this afternoon, dear. I'll explain ... as much as I can."**

**Reluctantly, I told her good-bye. I jogged downstairs to catch the Number Two train.**

**I didn't know it at the time, but my mom and I would never get to have our afternoon talk. In fact, I wouldn't be seeing home for a long, long time.**

**As I stepped outside, I glanced at the brownstone building across the street. Just for a second I saw a dark shape in the morning sunlight—a human silhouette against the brick wall, a shadow that belonged to no one.**

**Then it rippled and vanished.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Annabeth said.

"Okay," Percy said, nothing too embarrassing in that chap, "but next time, we are reading it in the Poseidon Cabin."

Everyone looked at Chiron, "It is Percy's gift. He can read it where ever he wishes."

"Thank you," Percy said.

**AN:** What'd you think?


	2. AN

AN: Hey guys! I'm sorry this isn't another update! But I promise I'll get it done as soon as I can! Anyways, just wanted you too know that I'm on youtube now! I just posted my first video! If you could like, review, and sebscribe, I'd love that! Here's the link: http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=FZj72XhD2Wk

PLEASE HELP!


	3. Chapter 2

AN: HELLO PEOPLE! Love your reviews! (no joke).

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

Chapter Two:

People Know I Look At Annabeth's Picture in My Private Time

Percy's POV

"Okay who wants to read this time?" Annabeth asked.

"I will," Rachel offered.

**I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals**

**My day started normal. Or as normal as it ever gets at Meriwether College Prep.**

**See, it's this "progressive" school in downtown Manhattan, which means we sit on beanbag chairs instead of at desks, and we don't get grades, and the teachers wear jeans and rock concert T-shirts to work.**

"You don't get any grades?" Annabeth asked.

"No," I answered.

Annabeth scoffed. "Well no wonder you're so dumb."

"Hey!"

"Are you kidding?" Conner and Travis asked at the same time. "That is awesome!"

**That's all cool with me. **

"Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth scolded.

**I mean, I'm ADHD and dyslexic, like most half-bloods, so I'd never done that great in regular schools even before they kicked me out.**

**The only bad thing about Meriwether was that the teachers always looked on the bright side of things, and the kids weren't always ... well, bright. **

**Take my first class today: English. The whole middle school had read this book called **_**Lord of the Flies, **_**where all these kids get marooned on an island and go psycho.**

"Did you actually read it?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah," he admitted. "I was interested in kids going psycho."

Annabeth smiled. "Was it in Ancient Greek of something?"

"Maybe, maybe not, maybe I'll get shot."

"Ooookeyyy, moving on," said Rachel.

**So for our final exam, our teachers sent us into the break yard to spend an hour with no adult supervision to see what would happen. What happened was a massive wedgie contest between the seventh and eighth graders, two pebble fights, and a full-tackle basketball game.**

"Awesome!" Travis said jumping up. "Where do I sign up."

"No kidding!" Conner agreed.

Katie smacked both of them. "Sit down!"

**The school bully, Matt Sloan, led most of those activities.**

**Sloan wasn't big or strong, but he acted like he was. He had eyes like a pit bull, and shaggy black hair, and he always dressed in expensive but sloppy clothes, like he wanted everybody to see how little he cared about his family's money. One of his front teeth was chipped from the time he'd taken his daddy's Porsche for a joyride and run into a PLEASE SLOW DOWN FOR CHILDREN sign.**

"That no, good, spoiled..." Annabeth mumbled some more things so low people can barely hea her. "No one messes with my seaweed brain. Only I can mess with him."

**Anyway, Sloan was giving everybody wedgies until he made the mistake of trying it on my friend Tyson.**

"He did not!" Rachel said looking up.

"He tried," I said.

"Do you think he's still there so I can beat some since into him?" Travis asked.

"I doubt he didn't drop out yet."

**Tyson was the only homeless kid at Meriwether College Prep. As near as my mom and I could figure, he'd been abandoned by his parents when he was very young, probably because he was so... different.**

**He was six-foot-three and built like the Abominable Snowman, but he cried a lot and was scared of just about everything, including his own reflection.**

"Can't blame him," Travis said.

Katie hit him. "Travis!"

"What?" he said innocently.

That only got him another hit.

No One's POV

**His face was kind of misshapen and brutal-looking. I couldn't tell you what color his eyes were, because I could never make myself look higher than his crooked teeth.**

"Wow, you were dumb," Clarrise snickered.

"No I wasn't," Percy said.

"Yes, ya are."

"Come on, Clarisse, mist hides the obvious."

Percy blushed.

**His voice was deep, but he talked funny, like a much younger kid—I guess because he'd never gone to school before coming to Meriwether. He wore tattered jeans, grimy size-twenty sneakers, and a plaid flannel shirt with holes in it. He smelled like a New York City alleyway, because that's where he lived, in a cardboard refrigerator box off 72nd Street.**

**Meriwether Prep had adopted him as a community service project so all the students could feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, most of them couldn't stand Tyson. Once they discovered he was a big softie, despite his massive strength and his scary looks, they made themselves feel good by picking on him. I was pretty much his only friend, which meant he was **_**my **_**only friend.**

"Awe," Annabeth said. "That's so sweet Seaweed Brain."

**My mom had complained to the school a million times that they weren't doing enough to help him. She'd called social services, but nothing ever seemed to happen. The social workers claimed Tyson didn't exist. They swore up and down that they'd visited the alley we described and couldn't find him, though how you miss a giant kid living in a refrigerator box, I don't know.**

"Stupid Mist," Percy complained. "It's supposed to help make the world better, not worse."

Annabeth rubbed his arm, comforting him.

**Anyway, Matt Sloan snuck up behind him and tried to give him a wedgie, and Tyson panicked. He swatted Sloan away a little too hard. Sloan flew fifteen feet and got tangled in the little kids' tire swing.**

Everyone laughed. A few sukar and good riddance exchanged.

**"You freak!" Sloan yelled. "Why don't you go back to your cardboard box!"**

Every body's mouths went slack.

Finally Jupiter said,"If that boy ever gets near my tree, well let's just say we'd need Mr. D to fix him."

"Yeah, if we fixed him at all," Annabeth said. "I'd like him better if he was mad.

Chris and Clarisse didn't say anything. They were sensitive about making people go mad, since Chris went mad once.

**Tyson started sobbing. He sat down on the jungle gym so hard he bent the bar, and buried his head in his hands.**

"Poor Tyson," Grover muttered.

**"Take it back, Sloan!" I shouted.**

"That's are Percy!" Travis said.

Percy rolled his eyes.

**Sloan just sneered at me. "Why do you even bother, Jackson? You might have_friends _if you weren't always sticking up for that freak."**

**I balled my fists. I hoped my face wasn't as red as it felt. "He's _not _a freak. He's just..."**

Rachel looked up. "A monster."

We all looked down.

Percy said. "Well he's a nice monster."

**I tried to think of the right thing to say, but Sloan wasn't listening. He and his big ugly friends were too busy laughing. I wondered if it were my imagination, or if Sloan had more goons hanging around him than usual. I was used to seeing him with two or three, but today he had like, half a dozen more, and I was pretty sure I'd never seen them before.**

**"Just wait till PE, Jackson," Sloan called. "You are _so _dead.**

**When first period ended, our English teacher, Mr. de Milo, came outside to inspect the carnage. He pronounced that we'd understood _Lord of the Flies _perfectly. We all passed his course, and we should never, never grow up to be violent people.**

"How dumb_ was_ that teacher?" Rachel asked.

**Matt Sloan nodded earnestly, then gave me a chip-toothed grin.**

**I had to promise to buy Tyson an extra peanut butter sandwich at lunch to get him to stop sobbing.**

**"I ... I am a freak?" he asked me.**

**"No," I promised, gritting my teeth. "Matt Sloan is the freak."**

**Tyson sniffled. "You are a good friend. Miss you next year if ... if I can't …"**

**His voice trembled. I realized he didn't know if he'd be invited back next year for the community service project. I wondered if the headmaster had even bothered talking to him about it.**

**"Don't worry, big guy," I managed. "Everything's going to be fine."**

**Tyson gave me such a grateful look I felt like a big liar. How could I promise a kid like him that _anything _would be fine?**

Annabeth sighed. "You need to stop being so hard on your self."

She laid her head on his shoulder.

**Our next exam was science. Mrs. Tesla told us that we had to mix chemicals until we succeeded in making something explode, Tyson was my lab partner. His hands were way too big for the tiny vials we were supposed to use. He accidentally knocked a tray of chemicals off the counter and made an orange mushroom cloud in the trash can.**

"Cool!" Conner and Travis said enthusiastically. "Can you read it again!"

Everyone rolled there eyes.

**After Mrs. Tesla evacuated the lab and called the hazardous waste removal squad, she praised Tyson and me for being natural chemists. We were the first ones who'd ever aced her exam in under thirty seconds.**

"What was the point of going to school?" Annabeth asked, pouting. "You're brains going to rot out of your head. Oh no there will be Seaweed Everywhere!"

Percy rolled his eyes. He laid hit head in Annabeth's lap. Instantly her hands reached for his hair. Percy smiled. _Annabeth distracted. Check._

**I was glad the morning went fast, because it kept me from thinking too much about my problems. I couldn't stand the idea that something might be wrong at camp. Even worse, I couldn't shake the memory of my bad dream. I had a terrible feeling that Grover was in danger.**  
**In social studies, while we were drawing latitude/longitude maps, I opened my notebook and stared at the photo inside—my friend Annabeth**

"So that's what you were looking at!" Annabeth said.

_Darn it!_

Percy's face turned red.

"Awe, look he's blushing," Travis said. "How are the love birds today?"

Percy turned around so his face was buried in Annabeth shirt.

Annabeth made a noise in her throat that made one clear statement: _Mine!_

**on vacation in Washington, D.C. She was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in a bandanna. She was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with her arms crossed, looking extremely pleased with herself, like she'd personally designed the place.**

"I was just... happy," Annabeth muttered.

Everyone, but Percy, snickered.

"Percy was checking out you wasn't he," Conner said.

"I guess he was," Annabeth said blushing.

If anyone could see Percy's face, they'd no how read it was.

**See, Annabeth wants to be an architect when she grows up, so she's always visiting famous monuments and stuff. She's weird that way.**

"That's not weird!" she denied.

"'course not," he said pecking her on the lips and his head retreated to her lap again.

**She'd e-mailed me the picture after spring break, and every once in a while I'd look at it just to remind myself she was real and Camp Half-Blood hadn't just been my imagination.**

Annabeth scoffed. "That' was so not the reason."

Everyone laughed.

**I wished Annabeth were here. She'd know what to make of my dream. I'd never admit it to her, but she was smarter than me,**

Annabeth laughed. "You didn't have to tell me. I always knew."

Everyone laughed with where.

**even if she was annoying sometimes.  
**"Hey!" Annabeth said, glaring.

Percy smirked, but didn't say anything.

**I was about to close my notebook when Matt Sloan reached over and ripped the photo out of the rings.**

**"Hey!" I protested.**

**Sloan checked out the picture and his eyes got wide. "No way, Jackson. Who is that? She is not your—"**

**"Give it back!" My ears felt hot.**

Everyone laughed, some were rolling on the floor clutching there stomach's.

**Sloan handed the photo to his ugly buddies, who snickered and started ripping it up to make spit wads. They were new kids who must've been visiting, because they were all wearing those stupid HI! MY NAME IS: tags from the admissions office. They must've had a weird sense of humor, too, because they'd all filled in strange names like: MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, and JOE BOB. No human beings had names like that.**

**"These guys are moving here next year," Sloan bragged, like that was supposed to scare me. "I bet they can **_**pay **_**the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."**

"SHUT UP!" Thalia suddenly said, glaring at the book.

Rachel just smirked.

**"He's **_**not **_**retarded." I had to try really, really hard not to punch Sloan in the face.**

"Why didn't you?" Thalia asked, clearly upset.

"Oh, maybe because that would've been stupid!" Nico answered for him.

Thalia glared and Nico shut up.

**"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period."**

**Now Annabeh was glaring at the book too.**

**His huge buddies chewed up my photo. I wanted to pulverize them, but I was under strict orders from Chiron never to take my anger out on regular mortals, no matter how obnoxious they were. I had to save my fighting for monsters.**

**Still, part of me thought, if Sloan only knew who I really was ...**

**The bell rang.**

**As Tyson and I were leaving class, a girl's voice whispered, "Percy!"**

**I looked around the locker area, but nobody was paying me any attention. Like any girl at Meriwether would ever be caught dead calling my name.**

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

Percy smiled apologetically at her, his green eyes looking at her, as she kept messing with his hair.

**Before I had time to consider whether or not I'd been imagining things, a crowd of kids rushed for the gym, carrying Tyson and me along with them. It was time for PE. Our coach had promised us a free-for-all dodgeball game, and Matt Sloan had promised to kill me.**

**The gym uniform at Meriwether is sky blue shorts and tie-dyed T-shirts. Fortunately, we did most of our athletic stuff inside, so we didn't have to jog through Tribeca looking like a bunch of boot-camp hippie children.**

**I changed as quickly as I could in the locker room because I didn't want to deal with Sloan. I was about to leave when Tyson called, "Percy?"**

**He hadn't changed yet. He was standing by the weight room door, clutching his gym clothes. "Will you ... uh ..."**

**"Oh. Yeah." I tried not to sound aggravated about it. "Yeah, sure, man."**

**Tyson ducked inside the weight room. I stood guard outside the door while he changed. I felt kind of awkward doing this, but he asked me to most days. I think it's because he's completely hairy and he's got weird scars on his back that I've never had the courage to ask him about.**

**Anyway, I'd learned the hard way that if people teased Tyson while he was dressing out, he'd get upset and start ripping the doors off lockers.**

"Whoa..." Rachel muttered.

Everyone else laughed.

TO BE CONTINUED...

AN: Check out my Youtube!

http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=FZj72XhD2Wk


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